Chapter Seventy-Seven: Mutation

"I know!" Seeing the grave expression on Hughes' face, Billy naturally understood what would happen if anyone at the Academy discovered that Hughes possessed such a potion.

"Mm." Hughes trusted Billy, knowing he would not easily divulge the secret.

After handing the basic mental potion to Billy, Hughes returned to his own quarters, intending to use the vial he had kept for himself and see what effect it might have.

"Let's do this." Hughes sat down, pulled out the wooden stopper from the basic mental potion, and drank it in one gulp.

Unlike the previous concentration potion, after drinking the basic mental potion, Hughes felt a burning sensation within his body. It was intense, but still bearable.

"Beep! Host's mental power is fluctuating due to energy influence!"

"Beep! Host's mental power is increasing!"

"Beep! Host's mental power increased by 0.01!"

"Beep! Host's mental rune assimilation progress accelerated!"

"So it has this effect as well!" Hughes hadn't expected that the basic mental potion would also aid in rune assimilation, not simply increase mental power.

"Beep! Host is under unknown influence! Mental power fluctuation paused!"

The sudden message from the chip made Hughes tense.

"What’s happening, chip? What's the cause?" Hughes hurriedly instructed the chip to scan for the reason.

But this time, the chip did not immediately respond.

Seeing the chip remain silent, Hughes realized that this incident was likely unusual.

"Beep! Host's mental power growth halted!"

"Beep! Host's mental rune affected by unknown influence! Full assimilation time delayed. Estimated time: 398 days!"

"What?" Hughes could scarcely believe it; his rune assimilation would be postponed for so long.

"How could this be? Is it the basic mental potion?" Hughes immediately thought of the potion he had just consumed.

"Impossible! The potion is genuine, self-brewed, and the chip analyzed it—it truly is a mental power booster. How could this happen?" Hughes was struggling to accept it.

"Beep! Warning! Detected a powerful energy fluctuation in host's body!"

"Beep! Energy fluctuation located: eyes! Insufficient data, unable to determine energy type or source."

"My eyes—again, these eyes!" Hughes went to the mirror and gazed at the strange purple eyes reflected back at him.

Looking at his unique eyes, Hughes immediately recalled the bizarre serpent he had encountered; it had spared him and gifted him valuable items because of these very eyes.

"What secret do my eyes hold?" This was a question Hughes had never been able to answer.

He stared at his eyes for a long time but found nothing different from before, so he punched the wall in frustration.

"Damn it!" The delay in rune assimilation left Hughes exasperated, his carefully made plans now disrupted.

He looked at the data the chip had just produced, his face darkening.

"Energy fluctuation! Still in the eyes. What is this?" Hughes felt a headache coming on as he studied the data.

"Chip! Will this energy fluctuation affect me?" Hughes feared it might impact his abilities.

"Beep! This energy is completely generated within the host's body, coexisting with the host. It will not cause significant effects."

"Is that so? Then that's a relief." Hearing it would not affect him, Hughes was somewhat satisfied. Yet he still could not figure out what was going on with his eyes; he could only wait for a chance to encounter the strange serpent again.

"Right, my mental rune!" Hughes quickly sat down, preparing to meditate and observe his rune.

Because of the earlier events, Hughes was agitated and struggled to enter a meditative state, working hard to calm himself.

Once he entered his sea of consciousness, Hughes examined his surroundings.

There was little change in the sea of consciousness, but the assimilated mental runes were now deeper, with more golden lines etched upon them.

The unassimilated runes also bore golden lines.

"Whether that's good or bad, I can't say." Hughes exited meditation, worried.

He could find no clue to these changes, and his plans for advancing to a formal sorcerer had been thrown into disarray.

In the days that followed, Hughes spent as much time as possible meditating, hoping to discover what these golden lines meant.

What puzzled him was that Anker had not come to see him for nearly a week, nor had anyone delivered materials for the basic mental potion.

Logically, Anker cared deeply about the basic mental potion; he would not be so indifferent.

"Perhaps he found someone else to brew it?" Hughes rather hoped so—it would mean he’d gained a potion recipe for free.

That week Hughes continued to meditate, and as the chip predicted, his results were mediocre; he could only wait patiently.

Billy had already drunk his potion, and Hughes, worried something unexpected might happen to Billy as well, specifically asked him.

The answer was that Billy felt well, his mental power had increased considerably, reaching the middle stage of a Level 2 apprentice, though he did feel somewhat irritable after drinking it.

Hughes did not dwell on it, attributing it to the potion's effects.

Seeing that Billy was perfectly fine, Hughes realized his own issues were not caused by the potion; even if he drank the basic mental potion, the worst that would happen was a delay in his progress.

After returning from an outing, Hughes finally encountered Anker, whom he had not seen for some time.

Hughes almost failed to recognize him; Anker was a far cry from his usual self.

He looked haggard, with streaks of white in his hair.

"Come in." Hughes did not inquire about Anker's changes, but let him in first.

Looking at Anker’s condition, Hughes suspected it might be related to the basic mental potion.

"These are the ingredients for you." Anker handed Hughes a box with a blank expression.

"And you are...?" Hughes took the box, eager to know what was wrong.

"I drank two vials of the basic mental potion!" Pain flashed across Anker's face.

"What? You knew—"

"You knew the potion can only be used once, didn’t you?"

Hughes was at a loss for words.

"I lost control. What should I do, Hughes? What should I do?" Anker suddenly grabbed Hughes’ hand, his eyes bloodshot, as if Hughes were his only hope.

"Tell me what happened!" Hughes struggled to free himself from Anker's grasp.

"I—I drank one vial and felt extremely irritable inside. I stared at the remaining vial, and I couldn't resist—I drank it!" Anker's face twisted, his gaze wild.

"Calm down, Anker! And then?" Hughes wanted to know what had happened with the potion.

"Then, then... I passed out. Part of my mental rune collapsed!" Anker spoke in near despair.

Hearing this, Hughes fell silent. Rune collapse was no trivial matter.

"What about your abilities now?" Hughes, though reluctant, decided to ask.

"I'm still a Level 3 apprentice, but I may never advance to a formal sorcerer in this life." At this, Anker suddenly became calm, as if he had come to terms with it.

Hughes did not know what to say; being told one could never progress to a formal sorcerer was a bleeding wound for any apprentice.

"And these ingredients..." Hughes opened the box; inside were the materials needed for the basic mental potion.

"Brew them. They must be brewed." Anker said quietly.

"I’ll do my best." Hughes did not understand Anker's intentions, but brewing the potion brought him a considerable profit.

"Irritability, irritability..." After Anker left, Hughes sat quietly on the sofa, pondering Anker’s words.

He suddenly noticed that both Billy and Anker had experienced irritability, though Billy's reaction was much milder.

"How strange! Is there really something wrong with this basic mental potion?" Hughes began to doubt the recipe for the basic mental potion.